The Class Photo
by Gothamur
Summary: Max uses the Photo Mr. Jefferson took on the first day of school to go back. This was the ending I hoped for, the idea stuck with me and so I wrote the story down enjoy.


The class photo:

Max looked at the photo, trying to get the focus right, remembering all the small details, the contrast. _They all look so peaceful back then_ she thought as the photo gains more and more depth.

Then everything was white and for a short moment everything and everybody around her was made out of light.  
Kate sat next to her and almost looked like the flash did hurt her and yet there was this small subtl smile on her face, which Max hadn't seen for weeks.

The rest of the class looked like they did all the other days.  
Max looked out of the window, shortly infront of the border of this reality an oak stood tall and strong full of green leafs, not a nouance of red.

„It worked!" she thought smiling.

„Max, are you okay? You seem confused." asked a small soft voice next to her.  
„Y-yeah" Max answerd after a small moment of adjustment

„Kate, what date is today?"  
„September the 3rd"  
Max quickly raised her hand _It worked_  
„Mister Jefferson, sorry but may I go to the toilet?"  
„You may, but don't make a habit out of that in my class" he sighed

Max almost jumped up and got to the door

Most of the Mainhall was outside of this reality, but there was a small piece of floor right behind the door and after that only a timeless abyss.

Max took out her phone  
„This is the last time I try fixing it, if it doesn't work..."  
The message for David was easy, just some coordinates and a few numbers, he was smart enough to figure all of it out. After she send the message she deleted the history and blocked the number hoping she or Chloe wouldn't get involved this time.

Then she typed Chloes number.  
„A small text message, just to start contact is all that I need" she said to herself as she started typing.

„Hi Chloe, it's been a while, I..."  
She deleted the message  
„Jeebus, that sounded like an old mans text"  
The border seemed to come closer, slowly yet persistent.

„Chloe, it's Max I..."  
„Now what?" she thought while the abyss slowly came closer.

She hasn't seen you for half a decade, the original reunion was everything but calm and planned, there were just raw nerves and quick reactions.  
Does she even want to talk, what if stat doesn't change anything or makes things again even worse.

Her toes were now above the abyss, her head hurt like hell, as she started to type again, while trying to stretch the moment a little longer. Then she fell and everything went black.

„Hi Chloe, this is Max. I'm back in Arcadia Bay. I just wanna ask if we can meet later"

There was another flash, this time caused by nature. Max jumped up in her bed.

Raindrops ran down her window pushed by a slight autumn breeze. Anything but a real storm.

The rain seemed to be the only sound in her dorm. In front of her Window the rain created a beautiful painting in black, dark blue and red interrupted by a few small points of white, artificial light.

Max reached out for her phone, afraid of what she might read.

There were alot of messages between her and Kate, some with Warren and Dana and Juliet and Brook, even a few with Victoria. But all of them combined weren't even half as much as those between her and Chloe, the latest, only a few hours ago.

She went to the very start of the conversation.

Max „Hi Chloe, this is Max. I'm back in Arcadia Bay. I just wanna ask if we can meet later"

Chloe „So you finally came down from your ivory tower to talk to your old friend?"  
Max „I'm sorry I was such an asshole and didn't stayed in touch. But I'm trying to be a better person and a better friend this time!"  
Chloe „Well, you gotta re-earn my friendship first"

Chloe „Meet me at the Two Whales and treat me breakfast"  
Max „If that's all it takes (^_^)  
Chloe „No emoji!"  
There were a thousand more texts but they became more and more out of focus as tears filled her eyes and blurred her vision.

She opend her diary the start was still the same but then the tone changed to highschool drama.  
She quickly found her entry about her first meeting with Chloe again.

„The town, the Diner, even Joyce. Everything still looks the same, like no time has passed. Nothing has changed except for Chloe. She changed so much, with her blue hair and tattoos she finally looks like the punk she's always been inside. But she also seems to hide alot ofpain and anger behind that. Because of Williams dead and her mother, and her stepdad and especially because of me.  
But now I'm here and I will not make the same mistakes again, I'm never going to leave her again.

We just sat there and talked while eating, about school, about life and family and eventually about Rachel Amber.  
Max turned a few pages forward.

She found an entry about Jefferson beeing arrested on october 2th, nearly a week before all of this crazy stuff even happend. Max smiled as she read her innocent comment and that she never would have guessed.  
There was nothing about Kate's suicide attempt. There was no word about Nathan bringing a gun to school, no visions of a storm, nothing about breaking into Blackwell with Chloe, no dark room and not a single word about time travel. Only highschool drama a refound friendship and alot of photography. Almost boring in comparison, but after all it was all Max ever hoped for when she came back to Arcadia.

It was only now that Max fully realised how tired she was.  
„There would be enough time to read all that tomorrow" she said to herself as she put her diary and her phone to the tabke next to her bed.  
Half asleep she pushed over the glass of water she keeps there and it ran all over her diary.  
She raised her hand like she did countless times the past week but nothing happend. She tried agian, but again nothing happend. She got up as quickly as she could and pulled her diary out of the puddle to put it on the radiator, while a big smile appeared on her face.

„It's over" Max said to herself as she laid down on her bed again.

She thought she wouldn't be able to fall asleep after all that, but after only a few minutes she fell into a deep, dreamless sleep to the relaxing sound of a rainy october night.


End file.
